Ismail Akwei is an international journalist, communications and media consultant, editor, writer, human rights advocate, pan-Africanist, tech enthusiast, history fanatic and a lover of arts and culture. He has worked with multinational media companies across the continent and has over a decade's experience in journalism. He is currently the editor of face2faceafrica.com.

Recently listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and considered to be Africa’s first startup to achieve that feat, e-commerce platform Jumia has been slammed by Africans for having two French top executives, headquarters in Germany and Dubai and developers in Portugal.

Its CEO, Sacha Poignonnec, incurred the wrath of many others during an interview on CNBC where he explained why the company’s technical talents were Europeans. “The reality is, in Africa there is not enough developers… We know that and we need to collectively address that because everything should be in Africa.”

His statement generated the hashtag #JumiaIsNotAfrican to take away the Africa tag associated with the company which was co-founded in 2012 and valued at more than $1 billion.

Many Africans have expressed serious reservations on social media against Jumia’s identity and seeming exploitation of the African market to promote their European agenda.

“Some of us are getting riled up about Jumia being considered to be African. It’s not for nothing. This colonial type business model is not new. Jumia is the modern day CFAO,” tweeted Cameroonian tech entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong.

Some of us are getting riled up about Jumia being considered to be African. It’s not for nothing. This colonial type business model is not new. Jumia is the modern day CFAO. If you don’t know the history, here it is: https://t.co/idpEIpbYZf#JumiaIsNotAfrican

“We are upset because there is a painful not too distant history there. We don’t want this reproduced in our startup ecosystem. We welcome foreign founders to work side by side in our ecosystem. But we don’t want them to represent us, to speak for us, to pass for us,” she added.

We are upset because there is a painful not too distant history there. We don’t want this reproduced in our startup ecosystem. We welcome foreign founders to work side by side in our ecosystem. But we don’t want them to represent us, to speak for us, to pass for us.

“My standard for saying a startup is African is simple: the idea originates from Africa and it is founded by an African,” Nigerian tech veteran and investor, Victor Asemota, told Quartz Africa.

He also lamented about the use of African affiliation as a prop by some foreign companies. “Their real ambition is to gain quick recognition,” he is quoted as saying.

Jumia operates in 14 countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Algeria, Angola, and Senegal where its offices are occupied by local staff and country heads.

Co-founders Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, two former employees of McKinsey, opened their first shop in Nigeria in 2012 alongside Nigerian Tunde Kehinde and Ghanaian Raphael Kofi Afaedor who both left the company in 2015.

Here are some reactions to Jumia’s European identity by Africans who believe that a company cannot be African because its primary market is the continent.

Jumia is not African startup. It is a company duly incorporated in Germany by 2 French founders who are Co-CEOs. A non-exhaustive reference to its Germanness can be found here in their Form F-1 filings with the SEC. https://t.co/bpTnp0k0o9 A ka thread for those who don’t read:

Quite a detailed assessment of the so called “African Startup”. It’s a collective Misrepresentation of the financial handicaps of the real local Africa startup who is limited in accessing help to grow.

Jumia is a camouflage EU e-commerce company and a lot has been proven here.

The same modus operandi where they give Africa the goat hairs while they take the meat. Sadly African leaders have beggars mentality. Instead of articulating their resources with value added, they export it raw and import the finish product. Yet they go cap in hand begging

This news has broken my heart to pieces. All this while i had thought Jumia was African, based from Nigeria. Seeing how i encourage many to use their services, while we have same startups services in Cameroon.

These are the conversations that we need to have to bring awareness to the issues and then bring change. Let’s ask ourselves, how many African companies can go to Europe and do what these foreign companies do in our own countries? Why do we then allow it?

Meaning – a lot of retail US investors sense massive potential in Africa but do not have ability to easily invest. Jumio success, calling themselves an African startup, demonstrates the markets’ desire to invest in Africa

What needs to be done for Afrika needs to be done by afrikaans. Jumia is like the white colonial settlers who while partitioning afrika amongst themselves during dinner parties understood its potential, but unwilling to give its people any legitimate share of their(our*) profit.